Ours
Distorted Lullabies

THE REVIEW

Perhaps there is no more beautiful musical sensation than inserting a CD into the player and being enchanted for the entire listening of the album. Still, motionless, savoring every single note, ready to eliminate any noise that might interrupt this magic, captive to the listening like leaves that, without resisting, let themselves be carried by the wind anywhere.

Certain albums take you by the hand, and you hold yours around them tightly, very tightly, wanting them to accompany you forever, because you know you have found more than just simple sound, a friend made of notes that speaks your same language, that consoles you, makes you dream, a bride that is not seen but felt, in the ears and especially in the heart.

Who are Ours? Ours, who debuted on a major label (previously there was an EP: SOUR from way back in '94) in 2001 with the album "Distorted Lullabies", are associated with the figure of the vocalist/leader Gimmy Gnecco, who wrote all the songs on the album. The other members at that time (fortunately, given the fall in style caused by the participation of other members in the songwriting of the subsequent album) were mere session men.

And now the most important question: what are Ours? Ours are poetry in music, they are art, they are feeling, they are pain, they are melancholy, they are beauty! Gnecco has a divine voice, often, and rightly, compared to the late Jeff Buckley (it seems the two knew each other, Jimmy even dedicated some songs to him during acoustic performances), listening to him sing is a real emotion. Gnecco masterfully plays with his voice, showing he knows how to use it like a real instrument, highs, lows, anger, despair, resignation. The lyrics are very inspired, the adjective that best characterizes them is the much-overused decadent, an adjective unfortunately subject to too many abuses in the contemporary music scene. This decadence is closer to Verlaine, in its melancholic-loving traits, rather than Baudelaire's deep existentialism while always maintaining very high-quality standards. These are songs from a sensitive and tormented soul, which find expression and content in notes that are the actresses of a theatrical tragedy, preserving its epic.

The album perhaps has one of the most beautiful openings I can remember since I have a musical memory: "Fallen Souls". A song in which Gnecco showcases all his vocal talents, with a spine-tingling performance, where the voice amplifies the tumultuous soundscape. I don’t want to do a track by track review because I am against this method, as I believe it is up to the listener to delve into the content of each album exploring all its nooks and crannies with the torch of their ego. In this particular album, it is YOUR emotions leading the way, if possible, forget even what I'm telling you, listen to the album as if it had come into your hands by chance!

Musically speaking, the style of Ours is very close to the Radiohead of Pablo Honey and The Bends, the song "You" above all. It is, therefore, a genuine guitar-rock album played with lots and lots of passion, where ballads ("Monster", "Dizzy") alternate with decidedly more rock songs ("Misery Head", "The Drowning"). The common denominator of the tracks is the angelic voice of Jimmy, a singer who, in my opinion, deserves much more attention and especially travel companions worthy of him...

I therefore believe that Distorted Lullabies is a little Dark Rock gem capable of profoundly impacting the listener, thanks to an exceptional singer and lyrics that would not look out of place in a poetry book.